Temple Grandin holds court

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IRVINE With her salt-and-pepper wavy hair and her signature country-Western shirt and kerchief, Temple Grandin gets recognized at airports and receives numerous requests to autograph boarding passes. Her appearances throughout the country attract hundreds of parents, teachers and students – many of them in the autism community – just as it did at several venues at UC Irvine.

Grandin never planned to be famous, although she is now because of an award-winning HBO biopic, “Temple Grandin,” in which Claire Danes portrayed her.

Yet ask her who she is, and she will readily say: “I am a scientist first.”

Grandin, arguably the most recognizable face of the autism spectrum disorders in the nation, is passionate and clear about one thing: Her condition is not what defines her. And she's emphatic that children and teens ought to follow that example.

“Kids come up to me, and all they want to talk about is their autism,” she said. “They've become the label. I want them to show me their science projects.”

She said that we need to help children and teens with autism and Asperger's syndrome transcend their condition so that it does not become their sole or dominant identity. To do that, she said we ought to focus on the subjects and things that these children and teens are interested in, get them doing things with their minds, hands and bodies other than playing video games and away from being isolated.

It's a message that was heard loud and clear Thursday at UC Irvine by those who probably need to hear it the most.

What often draws people to Grandin is the curiosity to hear and learn from someone who couldn't speak until she was 3 1/2. Yet she turned out to be so brilliant that when she was a young adult, she made the way abattoirs handle cows for slaughter more humane with corral layouts that have long curves to prevent animals from seeing what's ahead and therefore reduce their stress.

Her ability and propensity to “think in pictures,” as she put it, led to her designing animal handling machines for companies such as Cargill. She earned a Ph.D. in animal behavior at the University of Illinois and is a professor of animal sciences at Colorado State University.

The love for science and technology is what made Grandin, who receives numerous requests to speak on autism, accept the invitation to speak from the Disability Services Center at UC Irvine. She wanted to see the research projects at the university's school of engineering and be able to reach out to students.

As the professor spoke to about 20 people during a casual lunch Thursday at the Engineering Hall, Josh Bell, an arts major wearing a Woody Woodpecker T-shirt and shorts walked in, his backpack slung on one shoulder. Within minutes, Grandin asked him what he wanted to be.

“A video game designer,” Bell said.

After Grandin told him to show her his work in animation, Bell stood up, took out his iPod Touch and put it in her hands. Together, they looked at photographs, after which Grandin gave him advice: Network in the video game industry.

“She inspires me,” Bell said later after Grandin left with a group to tour the engineering buildings. “She was telling me to focus on my interests.”

At the same lunch, Sandy Tran, 26, a material sciences and engineering student, listened intently, a serious expression on her face. She cast her gaze on the floor or chairs, barely looking at Grandin. Later in the afternoon, Tran sat toward the back of a hall at the University Club, where Grandin was participating in a question-and-answer session with UCI Chancellor Michael Drake before an audience of about 50.

Tran said she intuitively knew that she was different when she was growing up and that it took time for her to work on her social skills, such as learning not to blurt out the first things that came to mind.

At UC Irvine, she said she became more isolated, preferring to work alone. One night, she was watching Sheldon Cooper, a character on the TV show “Big Bang Theory” who, according to some in the autism community, demonstrates symptoms of Asperger's syndrome. A friend of Tran's remarked there was a name for the condition.

“It was a relief,” she said, to finally realize that there was an explanation for how she thought and felt as a teen. Sitting in the audience and listening to Grandin, she heard that being on the autism spectrum “was not a death sentence.” Not that Tran ever thought it was.

Still, in the moments after the discussion with Grandin had come to a close and the room had cleared, Tran had a soft look on her face.

Grandin's words, she said, confirmed what her mind and heart knew. “It's not what you are born with,” Tran said. “It's what you do with it.”

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